Madden was born in the USA to a middle class Irish-Catholic family in Waldorf, Maryland. He has an identical twin brother, Benji Madden, who plays lead guitar in their band Good Charlotte. He also has an older brother named Josh, and a younger sister named Sarah. Madden attended La Plata High School in La Plata, Maryland.

When Madden was sixteen years old his father left the family, causing them financial hardships. Madden took up various odd jobs as a teenager to help his mother with the family's bills. One job he and his brother, Benji, took up was washing hair at a salon. While in his early twenties, Madden changed his last name from Combs, his father's last name, to his mother's maiden name, Madden. He did so to distance himself from his father, against whom he holds a strong grudge.

Good CharlotteIn 1995, at the age of 16, Madden attended the Beastie Boys Ill Communication Tour with his brother Benji. Drawing from music introduced to them by their older brother Josh, such as Rancid and Social Distortion, as well as the influence of the Beastie Boys concert, the two started their own band with a friend. The band was short lived and the Maddens eventually recruited fellow high schoolers Paul Thomas and Aaron Escolopio to form Good Charlotte.

Other projectsIn the 2001 film Not Another Teen Movie, Joel and the other Good Charlotte members made a cameo as the band at the school's prom. He later had a cameo role in the 2004 film Fat Albert and in the 2006 film Material Girls with his brother Benji.

Madden started a clothing line called MADE Clothing along with his brothers Benji and Josh. The line is now defunct. In early 2006 MADE Clothing became DCMA Collective. The line is owned by himself, his brothers Benji Madden, Josh Madden, and friend Tal Cooperman. The Madden Brothers also have a side project called Dead Executives.

In November 2007, Nicole Richie and Madden created The Richie Madden Children's Foundation. The charity will create and promote an online registry to inspire the purchases of items for moms and their families in need.[3]

Personal lifeMadden started dating Hilary Duff in 2004.In November 2006, after two and a half years, Madden and Duff broke up. Madden stated at a club ten days afterward that their age difference was causing problems.

Later that year, in December 2006, Madden and Nicole Richie became a couple. In June and July 2007, numerous media outlets were stating that Richie was pregnant with Madden's baby. These rumors were unaddressed by the couple until July 31, 2007 when they confirmed in an interview with Diane Sawyer that Richie was pregnant with Madden's child. Richie gave birth to the couple's daughter, Harlow Winter Kate Madden on January 11, 2008 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles who weighed 6 lbs 7 oz.

Madden currently resides in Glendale, California with Nicole Richie and Harlow.